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BRONCOS:

This couple has no idea they're standing next to a black bear

By Sarah Favot, Pasadena Star-News

Posted:
01/25/2014 04:23:49 PM MST

Updated:
01/25/2014 04:23:54 PM MST

PASADENA, Calif. — Dry weather and high temperatures likely combined to draw out a California black bear from the Angeles National Forest this week and in one case onto the front porch of a Pasadena home, according to wildlife experts.

“It must be so dry up there and it's hot and now he's looking for something to eat,” said Ricky Whitman, a spokeswoman for the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA. “Closer to where there's garbage and where the people are is something that would lure them down.”

The drought affecting Southern California has dried up the vegetation that the bears would normally feast on, said Whitman.

A bear wandered Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours between homes near the Eaton Canyon Park Golf Course close to Old House Road and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue.

Police and California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens were on scene, according to reports.

Janice Mackey a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the bear made it back into the forest unassisted.

A Scottish couple visiting family in Pasadena had a close encounter Tuesday with a California black bear, which was captured on security cameras installed outside the home.

The footage showed the couple coming out of the home without noticing the bear, which was lurking a few feet away on the front porch.

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The bear followed the couple off of the porch and out of the view of the camera.

Bobby McKeown said he felt something at his leg as he was helping his wife into the car parked in the driveway.

The encounter made national and international news.

McKeown said he was still shaken Friday morning and wished he would have seen the bear before it had a chance to get so close to him.

Whitman said it was unusual for a bear to approach humans.

“They are usually very frightened,” she said.

Bear sightings for residents in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains have been common for the past 15 years, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The black bears were introduced into the mountains in 1933, relocated from Yosemite National Park.

Whitman said bears in Southern California do not hibernate in the winter.

Mackey said bears go into more of a lethargic state, rather than a deep sleep.

“We also have to remember this winter is warmer and more people are out and there is the possibility of more sightings,” Mackey said. “If it's cold and raining and damp, a bear might have gone unnoticed.”

Neighbors in the area said bear sightings are less common in January.

Both Whitman and Mackey said residents who live in bear country must be vigilant year-round.

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